Nw 70th Avenue Work Expected To Be Done This Month

PLANTATION — Work is expected to be completed by the end of the month on the project to widen Northwest 70th Avenue, between Broward Boulevard and Northwest Fifth Street.

Fred Amato, of the consulting engineering firm of Williams, Hatfield and Stoner, said the job involves widening almost 4,000 feet of roadway. Northwest 70th Avenue has been two lanes wide. When redone, it will have four travel lanes and a center lane for left turns.

The project is costing $212,000 and slightly more than half of that is being paid for by developers, Amato said. The city is paying about $100,000 of the cost.

Amato said developers in the area had planned to add turn lanes to provide access to their properties on Northwest 70th Avenue.

``It would have been a hodgepodge (if each made separate road improvements). So, with the money the developers put up to improve their properties and a little money from the city, it will end up as a nice, smooth road instead of a hodgepodge,`` Amato said.

He said the work, which began Nov. 14, also includes adding right turn lanes at several intersections.

Amato said ``There is no immediate intention to widen Northwest 70th Avenue, north of Fifth Street to Sunrise Boulevard. That will remain two lanes for a while.``

He said that sometime in the future it is possible that the two-way left turn lanes being installed between Broward Boulevard and Northwest Fifth Street would be removed and replaced with a landscaped median.

``If money becomes available in the future, we have the space,`` he said.